The Big Volcanic Ash from Iceland Thread

NATs
The situation regarding the volcanic eruption in Iceland remains dynamic and the latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation will continue to be variable.

Based on the latest Met Office information, part of Scottish and Northern Irish airspace including Aberdeen, Inverness and Edinburgh airports will continue to be available from 1900 today to 0100 tomorrow, Wednesday 21 April, and also south to Newcastle Airport. Glasgow and Teesside airports will additionally become available in this time period. Restrictions will remain in place over the rest of UK airspace below 20,000ft.

Flights above the ash cloud are now permitted in the UK; between 1900 today and 0100 tomorrow, this will enable aircraft movements above 20,000ft in UK airspace.

We will continue to monitor Met Office information and the situation is likely to change during the course of the day. We will make a further statement at approximately 2100 today.

NATS is maintaining close dialogue with the Met Office and with the UK's safety regulator, the CAA, in respect of the international civil aviation policy we follow in applying restrictions to use of airspace.

We are working closely with Government, airports and airlines, and airframe and aero engine manufacturers to get a better understanding of the effects of the ash cloud and to seek solutions.

[Neil]

According to the current estimates, the first bird Virgin are planning to get off the ground will be the VS29 LHR-BGI at 19:30 local time

VS029 LHR-BGI? Okay, I'm confused now...

Pete was referring to the data he gets from VS, which is used to for the 'flight status' feed on here.

I'm not 100% sure that is totally accurate now though as VS have since confirmed that all outbound flights ex LGW are cancelled today.

From the VS website:

In the meantime the following flights remain cancelled:

All flights in and out of London Gatwick and Manchester and some flights in and out of London Heathrow on Tuesday 20th April 2010

[Bazz]

Catsilverword, it shows the ash clouds as at 12.00 at altitudes up to 20,000 feet.

What does this mean for the BA flights in the air right now? Scotland, NCL or Europe?

According to the current estimates, the first bird Virgin are planning to get off the ground will be the VS29 LHR-BGI at 19:30 local time

VS029 LHR-BGI? Okay, I'm confused now...

Pete was referring to the data he gets from VS, which is used to for the 'flight status' feed on here.

I'm not 100% sure that is totally accurate now though as VS have since confirmed that all outbound flights ex LGW are cancelled today.

Yeah, but VS029 is a 10:00 LGW-BGI flight. I'm confused as to how it's become a 19:30 BGI-LHR flight...

Just thank yourselfs lucky George W Bush isn;t still running the country, America would have declared this Volcano a terror threat by now and would be in the process of bombing Iceland!

[Bazz]

South of England (below Newcastle?) air space remains closed below 20,000 feet with next NATS update scheduled for 21.00 tonight so no take offs or landings permitted hence VS29 will not depart as hoped for.

I am booked on VS027 for Monday 26th and I have my cats and dog booked in for Sunday.now they have closed airspace until 1AM tomorrow so I am so worried and unsure of what to do. This was compounded by the VA manage my flights page which has my flight in faded grey whilst my boyfriends which is on Friday 30th is all red and active looking!
Does anyone have any advice because I have taxis and animals to rearrange so I need to make a decision soon.

[Neil]

All you can do annievtaylor is to keep checking the information being provided. You are still 6 days away from your flight and with things changing so often at the moment it is really impossible to advise what will be happening with your flight. I would suggest you continue as if your flight is going to operate but have plans in place that you can action on Sat/Sun if things are still looking unlikely.

Neil

[mitchja]

Just in via MAN airport Twitter page:

latest from @manairport, the UK airspace restrictions to remain in place for Manchester Airport until 1am wed 21st April updates to follow

Not sure about the rest of the UK though.

[Neil]

Just in via MAN airport Twitter page:

latest from @manairport, the UK airspace restrictions to remain in place for Manchester Airport until 1am wed 21st April updates to follow

Not sure about the rest of the UK though.

Pretty much everywhere apart from East Coast of Scotland down Newcastle is the same as MAN. Glasgow could re-open at some point before then.

From a purely selfish point of view this is starting to get really irritating.

The way things are going I know that it is highly unlikely that VS051 will be heading off to my beach on Thursday morning.

However I cannot cancel my holiday because I will lose all my money. VS will no doubt be forced to cancel the flight sometime before its departure time; no doubt after I have dropped the dogs off at their hotel and just after we have checked in at the LGW Hilton. Brilliant.

Bearing in mind the chaos that will likely ensue when flying resumes and the fact that Kerrykatona or whatever is still spewing its muck into the atmosphere so any outward passengers could soon be amongst the "cannot get homes", why cannot VS simply immediately cancel all outbound flights for the next 72 hours.

Meanwhile we have NATS relying on data from an organisation which is perhaps not the most credible based upon its forecasting record and the airlines saying there isn't a problem.

I had hoped that this rant would make feel better. Well it hasn't so now I am going into the garden to watch Lufthansa planes flying over on their way to pastures exciting. That is if I can see them through the ash cloud of course.

PS And don't get me started on BAA carpark refund policy..GRRRRR. ):

I can't believe how fed up all this is making me feel. It looks less and less likely that my flight (and that of countless others) will go on Saturday, and I'd kind of sooner know for sure that it isn't going, rather than will it, won't it? At least that way, i could try to move forward... this is purgatory.

Yeah, yeah, I know that makes me sound like a child, but it's how I'm feeling at the moment. Please excuse me while I lie on the floor and kick and scream

Me too and I'm not due to fly for another 14 days

HWVlover - sorry M8 - I know how you feel as I went through the same at Manchester last week. I just tried to calm down & did what needed doing - it kept my mind occupied for a few hours. I'll be doing the same again later as there is no chance of getting away from Manchester tomorrow now. Just awaiting my text. Take care.

Katie

Almost exactly the same for us HDub. Cats (ours and those of the Senior Ponds who are already in sunny Barbados) will be heading for the cattery this evening. I've already written tomorrows Flybe flights from LBA off, so I now have the prospect of hiring a car, driving 5 hours to LGW and spending an expensive night in the Hilton, only to have to hire another car and drive back the following day when our flight is cancelled. Oh, and all of the above with a 4 year old in tow who thinks she's going on holiday.

I don't really blame VS, but it does have that 'why can't the British get anything right' feeling about it, doesn't it?

I am booked on VS027 for Monday 26th and I have my cats and dog booked in for Sunday.now they have closed airspace until 1AM tomorrow so I am so worried and unsure of what to do. This was compounded by the VA manage my flights page which has my flight in faded grey whilst my boyfriends which is on Friday 30th is all red and active looking!
Does anyone have any advice because I have taxis and animals to rearrange so I need to make a decision soon.

Mine is all grey looking too and I'm not due to fly until 4th May!!! :0

Well, we're all sticking fingers in the air here - and I certainly am no expert in anything, as my wife will tell you at the drop of a hat - but the jet stream forecast (here) seems to show that it will start to move eastwards on Friday and reverse completely by Saturday to its "normal" pattern.

This should mean we stop getting ash blown over us, and so open airspace - although whether the aircraft will be in the right place is another matter!

Before that happens, whenever that may be, I guess it depends on if the volcano continues to erupt; if it starts to slow down or if it runs out of glacier to melt (which I understand is a big reason for why this particular eruption is so dangerous), then they may be able to start things moving sooner.

I'm out to LA on Saturday, with rather mixed feelings...not 100% sure I want to be in potentially the first plane out, and call me silly but I'd rather be in a 4-engine 747 than a twin-engined Airbus. I know ETOPS is all well and good in theory, but I reckon the more engines the better right now...

Drew

Regarding where the planes are, there is a plane sitting at Grenada, I guess G-VROY which, according to the flight status, did the VS051 last Thursday. The captain had been told they would be leaving at at 6pm today, later still had information that they were due to leave at 8.00pm local time. I doubt it will be happening now however although, of course, the next NATS statement is due at 9pm UK and Grenada is 5 hours behind.

On a side note from the aeroplane problems, I was at St Pancras twice today and the Eurostar ticketing and checkins had very very big queues and a lot of people sitting in the general area with cases. The three trains that I saw go out had no free seats visible which is unusual even at busy times. I wonder how far they have pushed the prices up to take advantage of the people wanting to get back to the continent and vice versa.

Their scheduled trains have had prices skyrocketing as that is how their revenue management systems work and they haven't had time to put in a new policy.
They are laying on new services as an emergency measure and were selling all seats on them for GBP 89 one-way.
They are profiting in one place because that is how they have set their rules of supply and demand. They are actually being very sensible on the new trains as they have been able to set the pricing rules.
Ed

And yet Eurocontrol seem to say the ash danger zone is away from the UK here.

Another simulation of the ash here which implies the UK was not always covered but should be free as the air flow moves.

Well, I've concluded that I no longer want to go to Miami on Thursday. The risk of flying out and then not being able to make it back is simply too high, I just can't afford to be at the back of a very long queue if our return flight gets cancelled a week on Sunday.

So being purely selfish I hope my flight gets cancelled by VS so I can get my money back (we're on a Z ticket) and we'll rebook later in the year. If the flight isn't cancelled we have a very hard decision to make that could cost us £3K+

Miopyk 8D

There's five BA planes in the air over Europe at the moment heading for Heathrow - it'll be interesting to see where they end up.

[Neil]

There's five BA planes in the air over Europe at the moment heading for Heathrow - it'll be interesting to see where they end up.

Just seen on the news that there are 15 BA a/c headed for London and BA are still very hopeful they will be landing at LHR. They are talking to NATS now about it. It will be very interesting what the reaction will be if they are allowed to land.

There's five BA planes in the air over Europe at the moment heading for Heathrow - it'll be interesting to see where they end up.

Just seen on the news that there are 15 BA a/c headed for London and BA are still very hopeful they will be landing at LHR. They are talking to NATS now about it. It will be very interesting what the reaction will be if they are allowed to land.

The Bahrain flight is currently descending into Amsterdam.

Edit - It's now heading to Brussels.